What is Refuge Restrooms?
Refuge Restrooms is a free website and mobile app launched in 2010 that crowdsources and shares the locations of gender-neutral and accessible public restrooms. Its goal is to provide safe restroom access for transgender, intersex, and gender nonconforming individuals who often face discrimination, hostility, and safety issues when using gender-segregated public restrooms.
The Refuge Restrooms website and app allow users to search for restrooms by location and add new restroom listings. Each restroom listing includes details like location, accessibility features, and user reviews or comments. The mobile app uses GPS to show nearby refuge restroom options. As an crowdsourced platform, the accuracy and availability of local listings depends on user contributions.
Key features include:
- Crowdsourced map of gender-neutral and accessible restrooms
- User-submitted restroom listings and reviews
- Restroom search by location with filtering options
- Information on restroom accessibility features
- Optional user accounts to save favorite restrooms
- Mobile app for searching nearby restrooms on-the-go
By providing a centralized resource for safe, inclusive public restrooms, Refuge Restrooms aims to meet an important need for the estimated 1.4 million transgender adults in the United States.